The 2022 Professional Fighters League (PFL) regular season has finally arrived with its first event, PFL 1, which will feature fighters in the Lightweight and Light Heavyweight divisions. Live from Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas, the event will feature 10 bouts, including a headlining Lightweight bout between Clay Collard and Jeremy Stephens.
Stephens is known for his UFC career, where he has the record for the 4th most fights in the promotion with 34. He has 10 fight night bonuses in the UFC, which is the 10th most, and 18 knockdowns, which ties him for 2nd most. In tonight’s fight, he’ll be competing against a tough fighter in Collard, who lost in last year’s PFL semi-finals to eventual champions Raush Manfio.
The PFL has separated itself from other fighting promotions by being the first major MMA organization where fighters compete in a regular season, playoffs, and championship, which is similar to other major sporting leagues. The championship winners of each division will win a prize of $1 million.
The PFL has become the fast-growing and most innovative sports league in the world, and unlike the more popular UFC, PFL fighters fight in a 10-sided cage known as the SmartCage. Inside of the cage, the PFL is able to track the data of fighters (‘Cagenomics’), which includes metrics like punch speed, heart-rate tracking, energy exerted, and more. By using chip-based tracking, the league can parse data through chips inside the gloves of combatants. New for this season, the league will track KickSpeed, which measures the velocity of each kick in miles per hour, so viewers will be able to know the impact in real-time.
Former world champion Sean O’Connell will be handling play-by-play duties and he’ll be joined by analyst Hall-of-Famer and MMA legend Randy Couture and Kenny Florian as they call all of the action inside of the 10-sided cage.
Cord cutters can find out how to watch all of the action during PFL 1 below.
When to Watch
Prelims begin on Wednesday, April 20, at 6:00 p.m. ET, with the main card beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET
Where to Watch
You can watch all of today’s PFL combat action inside of the SmartCage by subscribing to ESPN+ for only $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year. Click here to sign up.
The prelims will air on ESPN+, while the main card will also air on ESPN, which can be found on the following streaming services:
| Channel | DIRECTV STREAM | fuboTV | Hulu with Live | Sling Orange | Vidgo | YouTube TV |
| $69.99/mo. | $69.99/mo. | $69.99/mo. | $35/mo. | $59.95/mo. | $64.99/mo. | |
| ESPN | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
What’s the Schedule?
Prelims — Beginning at 6 p.m. ET
- Emiliano Sordi vs. Cory Hendricks [Light Heavyweight]
- Alexander Martinez vs. Stevie Ray [Lightweight]
- Marthin Hamlet vs. Teodoras Aukstuolis [Light Heavyweight]
- Omari Akhmedov vs. Viktor Pesta [Light Heavyweight]
- Robert Wilkinson vs. Bruce Souto [Light Heavyweight]
- Simeon Powell vs. Clinton Williams (Showcase bout) [Light Heavyweight]
Main Card — Beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET
- Clay Collard vs. Jeremy Stephens [Lightweight]
- Raush Manfio vs. Don Madge [Lightweight]
- Antônio Carlos Jr. vs. Delan Monte [Light Heavyweight]
- Natan Schulte vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier [Lightweight]
Catch all of the combat action live from the SmartCage and more by subscribing to ESPN+ for only $6.99/mo. or $69.99/yr.